Gaming is on the rise around the world. According to Bloomberg, video games are exploding globally, with a 23% rise in revenue between 2020 and 2021. It’s forecasted to be a $219 billion industry by 2024, helped along by the pandemic and the number of hours, days and weeks people have spent inside.

Nowhere is gaming on the rise more than in India, the world’s largest democracy. Of the roughly 1.3 billion people who live there, it turns out that around 400 million are gamers. According to the All India Gaming Federation, it’s Indian female gamers who are driving this industry growth in the country. Let’s take a look at why gaming is becoming such a force in India and what Indian female gamers are doing to push it forward.

Why Is Gaming Such a Big Deal in India?

The Independent reports that India has 560 million internet users, which makes it the second largest population of internet consumers in the world. Gaming was already a huge force in India, and the COVID-19 pandemic and its ensuing lockdowns only accelerated its growth. What was once seen as a solitary behavior became a way to forge connections with others. For instance, at its peak, the popular game PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) had 34 million users in India.

According to KPMG, just 9% of Indian gamers use a computer, and only 4% are console players. Mobile phones are the primary avenue through which gamers in India play, and the low pricing of 4G data has made gaming more accessible than ever. Between 2021 and 2025, KPMG projects 182% revenue growth in the Indian gaming industry.

How Are Women Contributing to the Rise of Indian Gaming?

In 2020, the number of Indian female gamers rose sharply, from 19% to 42%. Ninety-five percent of these women are playing on a smartphone, and these numbers are expected to increase over the next few years. That’s an absolutely massive increase in the number of gamers in India and a boom for the domestic industry.

Women are also participating in e-sports and streaming in unprecedented numbers. Payal Dhare is behind Payal Gaming, with over 2.5 million subscribers on YouTube. She’s considered one of the most talented and popular female gamers in India. Another content creator for online gaming, Aparna Shukla (also known as Rog Stream), has over 2.5 million followers on Facebook. These two, along with many others, are normalizing the presence of women in gaming and content creation spaces, making room for more women within these industries.

The key here is that women already make up almost half of gamers in India. Every expert prediction and market research report says that these numbers will continue to rise disproportionately, and sometime soon female gamers could easily outnumber male gamers in India.

How Is This Shaping India’s Gaming Industry?

Indian companies are noticing sharp upward trends and rushing to cater to this quickly growing demographic of new gamers. With the rise of gaming in India, it’s a good time to join the gaming industry there, and many organizations are now specifically marketing their content and games to women.

Because of the country’s large population and the ubiquity of smartphones, research firm Research and Markets reports that over 200 game development companies have popped up in India in the past three years. Companies are looking to make games for Indians domestically, rather than relying on internationally made games, and they’re looking to research to help them tap into what women in gaming are looking for — all of which is driving the Indian video game industry forward considerably.

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